Millwall football club hosting ‘anti-trans campaigner’ who says raising trans kids is child abuse
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 06: A general view of The Den prior to the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy match between Millwall and Northampton Town at The Den on October 6, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images)
Millwall Football Club is set to host an ‘anti-trans’ activist who has been suspended from the Labour Party and an academic who says raising transgender kids ‘is a form of child abuse’.
The club is the venue of upcoming event ‘Transgenderism and the War on Women’, which is set to take place on Wednesday March 14.
The line-up for the event includes a number of notorious campaigners.
One panellist at the event, Australian academic Sheila Jeffreys, claims on her personal website that “parents who encourage this [transgender] idea in children are involved in a form of child abuse”.
Ms Jeffreys has previously opposed discrimination protections for people based on “gender identity”, claiming in a submission to the Australian Parliament that gender identity did not merit protection because “it is a mental condition”.
One of the event organisers, Venice Allan, was recently suspended by the Labour Party over allegations of abusive online behaviour and ‘transphobic’ comments, while a further panellist – Anne Ruzylo – resigned from her local Labour Party after allegations of ‘transphobic’ behaviour.
The event description says: “The talks will focus on the origins and nature of ‘transgenderism’ and its implications and consequences for women, lesbians in particular.”
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It adds: “The meeting will highlight concerns over the government’s proposed updates for the Gender Recognition Act, which include allowing anyone to self identify their legal sex, lowering the age of consent for gender reassignment surgery from 18 to 16 years, making ‘misgendering’ a hate crime and conflating the legal definition of sex and gender.”
Trans activists criticised the club’s decision to host the event on social media, branding the panellists “anti-trans” campaigners.
In a statement to PinkNews, Millwall FC defended its decision to host the private hire event.
A spokesperson said: “Millwall Football Club hires its conferencing and events areas out to a wide range of different legitimate organisations, including various charity fundraisers and more, and will continue to do so providing its facilities and environment are respected.
“By hiring out The Den as a professional venue for meetings, conferences and events the football club does not, in any way, support the organisations using them.”
Just last year the club had posted a statement on its website claiming it was committed to becoming a “safe and welcoming environment” for fans who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.
PinkNews asked Millwall how the decision to host the event aligned with this goal – but the club did not answer this query.
The event description states it is “the is the fifth of the We Need To Talk discussion events”.
At a previous event under the We Need To Talk banner, campaigner Linda Bellos was recorded saying: “I play football and I box, and if any one of those bastards comes near me I will take off my glasses and thump them… I am quite prepared to threaten violence because it seems to me politically what they are seeking to do is piss on women”.
She was also suspended from the Labour Party after the remarks.
Ms Bellos later denied threatening violence against transgender women and said she would only act in self-defence.
